Hedge-fund firm Citadel said Thursday that the chief executive of its European arm and head of global macro investing would retire next month.

The London-based Kaveh Alamouti, 60 years old, will depart at the end of March to oversee his own personal investments. His specific positions will not be filled at the $17 billion Citadel.

Alamouti was hired by Citadel in 2008 to start a new fund intended to make money on currencies, interest rates and other trades based on broad economic trends.

The Chicago firm said it could raise up to $5 billion for Alamouti’s fund, according to marketing documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal at the time.

That fund had about $250 million under management when it was liquidated at the end of last year. All the assets in the fund at the time of its liquidation belonged to Citadel and its employees, a person familiar with the firm said.

Of the about 10-person team who ran the fund, some are expected to leave Citadel with Alamouti, one person said.

Citadel, founded in 1990 by Kenneth Griffin, has long invested along similar global macro themes through its fixed income teams, a spokeswoman said.

Before joining Citadel, the Iranian-born Alamouti was a trader at hedge fund Moore Capital Management.